I'm a new rider with an ZX636 C6F 05 plate. Recently got the bike and recently passed my test.
Was thinking due to my inexperience that I'd get some crash protectors for the bike just in case.
Does anyone know for my particular model if I can get any that I don't need to do any work to the fairings? Not sure i'm confident enough to be drilling holes through it.
And if so what would you recommend? And where can you get it from? Been looking around but can't find a lot for my bike as it's getting on a bit.
Anything will do really. Just search "no cut frame sliders". If you get a cheaper set I will tell you from experience that you'll want to head to a local hardware store and upgrade the bolts. More expensive, name brand sliders are no more effective than the cheap eBay sliders aside from the quality of the bolt. They're all going to be some sort of delrin plastic and they're all going to do the same thing.
Should have pointed out I'm in the UK. Not sure if the same applies over here in terms of the name of them over here when googling it or where to get them from.
I'm completely clueless on the subject as you can tell.
It's all good bud, we all have to start somewhere. Here are a few on eBay UK. I'd stay away from the chrome/carbon look sliders but I guess it's all personal preference. T-Rex are a good brand and some of those cheaper ones would work as well (upgrade your bolts though). There are no-cut frame sliders and frame sliders that require you to cut a part of your fairing to install them. I personally prefer the no cut for obvious reasons.
Here's a link to SportBikeTrackGear.com as well with some fancy sliders for your bike. AubreySTG is a member here on the forum and is always willing to help if you have any questions. I'd suggest shooting her a PM if you want to know about any particular slider. Oh, and they ship internationally too.
Yeah i'm with you on the no cut sliders, don't want to be messing around with the fairing.
I have found a few things on eBay but they all come from Hong Kong so I think i'll definitely upgrade the bolts should I go for that sort of thing.
I went on T-Rex website and got to the checkout before I had to select either USA or Canada for delivery despite the website adding $30 for international shipping so fired off an email to check that they would deliver to the UK.
Will wait back and see what they say otherwise i'll just go the the ones on eBay.
What's your budget as I looked at the T-Rex sliders on eBay and with the shipping & import charges brings them to around the same price as Puigs which you can get delivered from Germany for a fiver.
i went with OES NO Cut frame sliders. They look good and i hear they do a decent job.
Do know that frame sliders are just tp aid in the case of a tip over, in the event of a crash, they're more than likely going to snap off, and your bike will be rashed, or hold up but your bike may sustain a lot more damage.
The CUT sliders usually offer more protection than a no cut just a head ups. but i couldn't justify cutting up my clean fairings either.
They're not only to aid in the case of a tip-over and they are not "more than likely" going to snap off in the event of a crash. There is the possibility of them snapping off or catching something and causing the bike to flip but that's not a "more than likely" type of scenario. And cut sliders offer the exact same protection as the no-cut. One just utilizes a bracket to move the slider forward away from the fairing. The guy is trying to make an informed decision here and your opinions aren't really going to help with anything other than clouding his mind with misinformation.
I've heard on the track that they increase the odds of the bike flipping and rolling. But is it true that if the sliders hold and don't snap, they could cause damage to the frame? Instead of just sliding
It's not misinformation. Unless the roads he will be riding in are perfectly flat and smooth(doesn't exist), there is simply no predicting where the bike will go in the even of a lowside or highside. It can get caught on a bump, pothole, imperfections, etc. If the slider breaks off immediately(happens more often than not in 'no-cut' sliders), the bike will slide like normal and get damaged anyway. If the slider gets caught on something and doesn't break, which is a possibility, it may cause the bike to flip causing even more damage.
I don't use frame sliders. They offer a good degree of a protection during a low speed or stationary tip over. But in the event of a highside or lowside in the streets or track, you simply can't trust these things to save your bike. Too many variables go in to play. And if my bike gets mangled up, I expect a write off and I'll just get a better bike.
There's a reason why professional race teams don't use frame sliders. Imagine going down a straight at 130 MPH. You trail brake in to the hairpin and lose the front end resulting in a lowside. Bike slides in to the run-off which could be gravel, sand, grass, etc. Now imagine a bike sliding on the run-off with frame sliders. The only point of contact on the ground is the slider and the rear tire. Slider digs in to the sand, gravel, grass, etc at 120 MPH and can't dig in any more. Where does that energy go?
I wouldn't pay for frame sliders. A guy on here recently had a car pull out in front of him, hit the side of his bike, slider snapped the tab on the frame off. Bike's a write off.
When I got my SV (semi naked) the slider on the right side was ground down. The bike also had new bar ends. Funnily enough the paint on the front fairing is a slightly different shade of red than the tank/tail... I suspect the front fairing was damaged and replaced/repaired as well.
During my term of owning the SV I 'laid it down' when moving it, still broke an indicator, and damaged the bar end. I don't think that the slider even hit the ground.
As a final point, there's a guy on Advrider who is doing a round the world trip on a Panigale (a cracking read, too). No sliders on his bike, and he's had at least two (maybe three) low speed incidents/drops, none of which meant fairing replacement.
Can happen and more than likely are two different things. Yes it's misinformation because there is a slight possibility that it could happen. Some choose not to bother with them and others do. Let him make his own choices without scaring him into thinking his bike is going to flip all over the place like a power ball on lottery night if he uses frame sliders. That's bullshit and you know it just as much as I do. Can it happen? Sure! Will it "more than likely" happen? Probably not.
Now I know why riverszzr gets so fucking irritated with the bullshit spewed on here sometimes.
I rode with a guy who would experience extreme shifts in gravity , cause he was going down a lot. I saw two of them. He has sliders and they saved his wallet more than once. The two I saw was his pants leg got caught on guard, could not put his foot down bike went over in driveway. Last time was he thought the apex to this inner city turn was half way up the sidewalk. Front tire hit the curb and down he went. Bike was a 2002 CBR929RR.
I would look at a good insurance policy over "crash protection".
If I was looking for crash protection I would look at a decent pair of rearsets and some case sliders. I am one of the guys who will never purchase a frame slider again. But it is your decision :bigthumb:
I had frame sliders on my first Ninja 300 and in a 35mph accident, the side that hit the ground got bent completely, tweaking the frame and bike was totaled. I have a set (Shogun - same set as I had for my 300) for my '13 ZX6R and have yet to install them.
Like others have said, if you drop your bike at 10mph, they'll do the job. If you crash at normal road speeds, they are more than likely useless.
For a new rider who is more than likely to tip the bike over(in the garage, parking lot, drive way) it's a good idea to have frame sliders. Even if he goes down riding, a good quality frame slider will help in saving the plastics, that's all they will do.
Woodcraft makes good stuff, check them out. Ride safe
+1 saved my first bike unnecessary damage one time I was moving it and thought the kickstand was down. I have them on my current bike just for tip overs or low speed spills, bike is least of my worries at speed.
Bought my current bike used and a $15 set of frame slider could have prevented over $1k in damage from from simple tip overs the previous owner had(nose,tail, and both mid fairings).
Absolutely agreed. If he's looking for protection against rookie mistakes, they will do their job. If he's looking for assurance that if he wipes out on a corner, they won't. It depends on what the OP wants.
I sold my 06 636 to a roommate, he ended up snapping off the slider with an impact that I'm pretty sure would have totally bent both the front and rear subframes pretty good without it. Thanks to the slider all the stock brackets were straight, just the clip-on and slider bracket were toast.
Also, similar to BrandonZX6r, I have watched many a sportbike rider experience extreme localized shifts in gravity, of course the sliders are a brilliant invention for those types of hiccups.
My advice: Get the sliders, in my experience on the street they're more often a good thing than not. I don't think I'd put them on a race bike though.
Eric Wood is a nationally ranked AMA racer. He looks at a lot of tossed bikes over a race weekend. He makes very intelligent designed product... Including his stout metal case covers. I've used his product on an R1, a CBR1000RR, & now on my ZX-6R. I use his fame sliders as all as his fork sliders.
I have unfortunately tested Woodcraft frame sliders. His work as they ought to. They are not hollow in the middle, so the don't deform in a slide. You are more likely going to have a flip because of the clip-ons digging in. Woodcraft sliders work as advertised, they are reasonably priced, and have great customer service.
The potential problem for the no-cut is the bracket used to relocated the slider into the open area behind the radiator is that small piece of metal becomes the weak link in your armour. When a 400-500 pound bike lanes on it there's a very real chance of that snapping. The farther away from the motor mount anchoring point the greater to probability of that scenario occurring.
Some protection is better than none. And all the flame slider makers will state that their products are no designed to be effective in high speed crashed. Unfortunately physics take over at that point.
A buddy new to bikes was looking at OES when I mentioned we should checkout woodcraft before ordering as I had seen it in this thread. We discovered that with woodcraft you buy the slider base and then the pucks separately allowing you to customize colors and such for about the same total price. He ended up going with the woodcrafts. I personally prefer the look of the solid puck as well
just putting it out there for reference i got cheap China ones for my cbr500r at low speed 15kph slide out from slamming on the brakes (car cut me off) and it saved my fairings bar ends still hit and needed replacement. but the sliders were just scuffed
You make a somewhat valid point. I have Kawasaki accessories engine case sliders, and they are stout. But I still have Woodcraft frame sliders as well; also Woodcraft fork sliders - these are super smart design. I use M-Factory swingarm sliders out back.
If budget/price is a concern then opt for the sliders, else go for the full set of engine case covers i.e. GB Racing.
I guess race bikes go with engine covers because they primarily use race fairing, which cost less than OEM plastics, so they are more concerned to save/protect the engine and ignore the fairings.
For street riders using OEM plastics, the general thought is to protect both fairing and engine, sliders only function at low/slow speed, and yes, they do tend to have a knack for catching/digging in a long slide (usually from a high speed drop) and higher chance of causing the bike to flip.
Bottom line, if you want some protection for your engine/plastic in case of stationary/low speed fall, sliders will help. For maximum engine protection, engine covers would be the choice.
Welcome to the forum and congrats for the zx6r. No picture of the bike?
I use ebay frame sliders and they already saved my fairings while tiping the bike over in the garage.
Pros and cons are already listed in this topic.
If u decide for frame sliders, i would buy oes or woodcraft.
Care for your bike, ride safe and u probably will never need frame sliders.
I would bet the vast majority on this forum use frame sliders. I doubt the track guys do but could be wrong. I bet it would look like 60s to 40s or 70s to 30s % that do use them. Someone start a poll take a chance of getting flamed..
I have Woodcraft frame sliders and GB Racing covers on the 636 for the street and for the track. I have done two track day low sides on the 650 (with Woodcraft frame sliders) and the bike was protected both times.
As for the track, like others have mentioned, whether you have frames sliders, engine covers, etc., you have no idea what is going to happen when the bike leaves the track. No amount of anything is going to save it every time. This really applies to the street also.
I have Kawasaki ones on my 13. They are expensive but, I didn't purchase them the first owner did. I also haven't taken a spill with them either but they flow with the bike (like the puig ones) very nice and seem to be of good quality. But as 40acres stated, they will only be as strong as their hardware.
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